Snowflakes
by Three Lights Fan 278
Summary: Christmas Eve and Yaten is being a grinch but who's surprised? Minako makes him a little more cheerful. Catching snowflakes on your tongue is fun.


**Snowflakes**

Bored. Bored, bored, bored. The three of us sat around, staring at the wall. We seemed to have taken a liking to that lately.

I looked outside at the snow. It looked like a large white blanket, covering the ground. Large flurries continued falling. The house was silent. I sighed and looked to my companions. Neither one seemed to be paying attention to anything.

I looked over at Taiki, who was of course busy typing on his laptop computer. I had to wonder why that thing was so interesting to him. The taps of his fingers clicking away at the keyboard were the only sound breaking through the silence.

Seiya was watching the fan go around intently, laying across the couch with his blue eyes transfixed on the ceiling. He seemed dazed or lost in thought maybe. What the hell did he think about so much lately anyway? I felt like throwing something at him, just to see if he was conscious or having a seizure or something.

I put down the book I had been reading and looked outside once more, thinking how peaceful and beautiful it was. Pure, quiet, soft. It was nothing like the actual state of this planet, if you were aware of the real problem, anyways.

I was brought out of my daze by the rude ringing of the doorbell, sounding somewhat like a screeching bird as someone very persistently rang it. Taiki looked up from his laptop perplexed, and I think both of us noticed how instantly Seiya was brought out of his gloomy, thoughtful state.

He jumped off of the couch and ran to and opened the door as two blondes came hurtling in, their much quieter friend Ami walked in after them. _Great,_ I thought. _They're just who I want to see right now_. I gritted my teeth listening to the two blondes chatter.

Seiya of course was happy to see Usagi, and Taiki engaged in polite conversation with the three girls, but I didn't bother with such. I was holding my book in front of me, pretending to read as I listened to them chatting. I'm not a social being.

Never hesitating to invade my personal space, Minako sat down next to me, grabbed me by the arm and clung to me. "I'm so cold!" she said looking at me. I pretended to continue reading, though I peered at her from the side of the book. I had gotten almost used to the way she acted. No response tended to work better than backing away. That would just make her try harder.

"Where are your friends?" Taiki asked the girls.

"Rei-chan has to work at the temple, Mako-chan refused to come because she made a date with someone she said looks exactly like her ex boyfriend." She replied, and the other two girls looked amused.

I narrowed my eyes from behind my book. How could that Makoto girl be thinking about boys when her planet was nearing destruction?

After a second, Seiya looked from Minako to Usagi. "Cold?" He smirked. I sighed at how pathetic that was. He was attempting to use the same tactics as Minako, only he was less abrasive.

"Just fine!" Usagi said and grabbed a blanket off of one of our chairs, wrapping it around herself quickly. I smirked from behind my book and the girls laughed.

"I'll go make some hot chocolate." Ami said and politely excused herself, walking towards our kitchen. The others chattering about Christmas and as soon as Minako gave up on clinging to my arm and was distracted by something Usagi said, I quietly made my escape outside, silently shutting the door behind me.

I sat on the porch, looking up at the sky. It was a mixture of light blues, grays, and whites with just occasional hints of orange. Large snowflakes were still falling down. I thought the sky looked how I felt: sad, angry, and lonely.

About half a block away, I spotted some kids building a snowman. Sometimes I liked kids. They were a lot better than adults, anyways. They told it like it was. They didn't sugarcoat anything. I admired that in children.

But right now I didn't like them. Right now they were annoying me. They were being loud.

Why the hell were they so happy? Didn't they know that this snowman was probably the last they would ever build? Looking at them having so much fun, I thought maybe it was best they didn't know. Part of me wished I didn't know. I frowned at that thought, staring ahead in the distance for some time.

Suddenly I heard the door open. "Damn," I muttered under my breath noticing through my peripheral vision that Minako had come outside. I thought I would have preferred the kids. They didn't stalk and bribe me.

I didn't move at all, and Minako came and sat beside me then sipped on a cup of hot chocolate. I waited for her to start clinging to me, to start all the things she does. But she just sat there for a minute, looking at me.

_Good, this is all right_, I thought. _Just don't talk._

Hearing the kids' laughter in the distance, Minako turned her head to see what was going on and started laughing slightly. "They're cute." She smiled.

I nodded slightly even though I didn't agree. They were loud.

"They have no idea." I said flatly.

Minako looked at me for a moment then turned her head in the direction of the kids again. She nodded, her blue eyes looking thoughtful.

"Knowing wouldn't do them any good." She said, turning her head to look at me again.

I rested my chin on my knuckles in thought for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"So why… why are you and your friends even celebrating this stuff this year? You might not even have another Christmas…" I looked at the ground.

She sighed, looking up to the sky in thought for a moment, then lowered her head, bringing herself to my eye level.

"And that's exactly why we're celebrating so much this year." She smiled at me brightly. You would have no idea she was just contemplating the end of her world.

I shot her a totally confused look and she explained, looking up at the sky again, smiling as some of the small snowflakes landed on her golden hair. "If this is going to be our last Christmas together, we want to be sure we make it as good as possible. We want to make happy memories of this Christmas, because it might be our last."

I was a bit shocked that something so profound had come from her, but I nodded back at her slowly. I had always mocked her in my mind for being childish. But right now she seemed anything but. She had accepted her own fate, while I still hadn't. And suddenly I saw a whole new side to her.

_Why do you insist on calling me 'Odango'?! I'm not edible!...._ I was able to make out these words along with some more of Usagi's shouting from inside. I smacked a hand to my forehead at the commotion.

I glanced at Minako, noticing her small smile that had formed at hearing her friend's words in the distance.

"Do you think she knows what edible means?" I asked.

Minako laughed, "Maybe." She said, her blue eyes sparkling. At least she had a sense of humor. I was glad she hadn't gotten offended by my joke about her princess. She turned her head to watch the kids who were building the snowman again, smiling ever so slightly as she watched them play.

And then I sat there, looking at her for a moment and just taking in the sight. There were snowflakes all over her golden hair, which was shining in the afternoon light, and her pink lips were curved into a smile, offset by rosy winter cheeks. Her blue eyes were almost shining in the afternoon light and were offset by the blues in the sky. She looked… beautiful. Like a picture. I wanted to take a picture of this.

"Stay there. Don't move at all. I'll be back in a second." She looked confused as I ran inside to my room to get my camera, Taiki and Ami giving me perplexed looks as I ran across the room. Honestly, I was just as confused as they were as to why I suddenly wanted to take a picture of Minako.

"Okay, stay there." I shut the door once I was back outside. Minako stared at me oddly, one eye cocked. I was holding the camera behind my back. Knowing her, she'd try to put on some pose if she knew I wanted a picture. I didn't want that. I wanted what I saw earlier.

"Look over there." I pointed to the kids. She looked at them when I pointed and I got lucky. One of the kids pelted another with a snowball and the kid that got hit fell down. Minako laughed. Perfect, the same look as earlier. I snapped the picture, smirking.

She looked up at me wide eyed and blushed for a second. Then she pretended to be mad.

"It's rude to take a picture of someone without asking!" she scolded me.

I could tell she wasn't mad. She didn't raise her voice enough and her blush made it even more obvious.

"But you looked cute." I knew that would leave her without words. She turned even redder for a moment.

I sat down and I showed her the photo through the camera's screen and she blinked in surprise.

"That's… very good." She commented looking through the screen on the camera.

I shrugged. "Of course it is." I smirked and she rolled her eyes as I placed the camera off to the side.

She looked off in the distance at the kids again. They were just about finished with their snowman now. She wrapped her arms around herself.

"What, cold again?" I asked her somewhat teasing.

"Here." I took off the hat I was wearing and put it on her head. She wasn't amused that it covered up her hair and her trademark bow. I had to chuckle slightly when she scowled at me and stuck out her tongue.

"Trying to catch snowflakes?" I smirked, finding something else to tease her about. For some reason it was fun teasing her. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Taste good?" I asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Like ice water, nothing special. But it's fun." She said and then really started trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

"You're such a kid…" I crossed my arms watching her for a minute. Then I actually stuck out my tongue, catching a snowflake. "Not bad, I like more refined food though." I joked.

She stuck out her tongue again as another snowflake landed on it. "Got another one." She said smiling.

"Are you making this a contest now?" I asked and looked at her curiously.

"If you want it to be!" She grinned at me.

I stuck out my tongue and looked for snowflakes again, catching one on my tongue. She stuck her tongue out again and we both sat, catching a snowflake now and then.

"There's a big one!" her face lit up and she pointed to a rather large snowflake, slowly making its way toward the earth.

"That one's mine." I said teasingly.

"No way!"

We both shot up and made a run for the huge snowflake, still falling slowly and elegantly toward the earth while we laughed, chasing it like we were little kids. Somehow, being around her made me feel carefree. I couldn't remember the last time I had done something as dumb as catching snowflakes on my tongue… and actually had fun.

After we had run for a few seconds she stopped and stuck her tongue out, looking up and waiting for the large snowflake to land on it. I stopped beside her and stuck my tongue out too, looking up and waiting for the same thing. It was simply a matter of where it would fall now.

And in a few motions of going bath and forth, the snowflake fell… right onto Minako's nose. She blinked in surprise and stood still, staring cross eyed at the snowflake on the tip of her nose. I couldn't help but laugh at her expression.

And then for some reason, I put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. Then I leaned forward and kissed her nose, where the snowflake had landed.

Her cheeks were the color of apples now and she just blinked in surprise for a moment. Then her lips curved into a faint, shy smile. She reached an arm up and dusted some snowflakes off of my hair, then rested her arm around my neck, still looking at me.

I reached an arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer to me. After a few seconds of looking at each other with silly, awkward smiles, we both inched forward and kissed each other. The taste of hot chocolate still lingered on her lips and she didn't seem to mind sharing at all.

And we stood there, kissing as the snowflakes continued falling, completely unaware that our hair and bodies were starting to get covered with snow.

Somehow it didn't seem so cold outside.

So this came out of a big edit of a chapter in a story that was going to be a chapter story of little Christmas snippets involving the Three Lights and their respective senshi. ^^ Over Christmas break I edited the Yaten chapter to turn it into this. Hope you like my little piece of Minaten fluff.


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